Psalms 51:7 - Exposition

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean . "Hyssop" alone could by the Levitical Law cleanse from contact with a corpse ( Numbers 19:18 ) or from the defilement of leprosy (Le Psalms 14:4 ). David recognizes that his impurity is of the extremest kind, and needs the remedy which has the greatest purifying power. Legally, this was the hyssop, with its "blood of sprinkling" (Le Psalms 14:6 , Psalms 14:7 ); spiritually, it was the blood of Christ, which was thus symbolized. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Again the word is used which corresponds to the Greek πλῦνον . "Wash me as garments are washed by the fuller" (see the comment on Psalms 51:2 ).